Radio Ball 3D is Addictive in the Extreme

Radio Ball 3D, which offers users a free demo and then costs $2.22 for the full version, is a 3D tunnel game that is accelerometer controlled. It is incredibly fast paced, and, once you get the hang of it you will be utterly engrossed by it.

When you start the game you become a radioactive ball, metal, that speeds through tunnels that have been filled with both power ups and various obstacles. You are able to jump your ball and avoid the obstacles, and will in this way eventually complete the entire circumference of the tunnel. Power ups are given by means of barrels that contain radioactive waste, which you collide with. If you manage to do this 3 times you will be fully powered, and this enables you to not only travel faster, but jump higher up also. You are also able to use these barrels as weapons also, this being accomplished by tapping the onscreen orange button, but this will lessen your power, but, because you will not always be able to miss an object placed in your way you might need to blow it apart so as to not sustain damage. You also get extra points for this destruction.

You can see your health status on a meter provided, and when you have 3 red dots you have full health. Each time you collide with an object, like a block or shipping container, or hit the edge of a pipe rather that pass though the middle section of it, you lose a point. These points can be regained however by snatching at the health bonuses that occasionally appear.

You can also get extra points by doing various things like travelling though pipes, managing to jump through moving fans, and hitting people in fallout suits which occasionally appear. There is an excellent soundtrack provided, high quality heavy metal, but be sure to switch this off when you’re playing the game and there are other people arround. All sounds, including music, voices and sound effects can be either enable or disabled from inside the settings menu.

You can play against other people over the internet, but you do not race against them on either the same track or at the same time, the race being simply a matter of gathering more points than any other player. You can also place bets, with credits, on the outcome of each race if you are so inclined.

The accelerometer controls feel excellent, but you can’t jump as much as you would like to. You do have to wait a little while between jumps, a few seconds only, but this limitation can cost you dearly.

This game does not have much variety, essentially being made up of 1 huge level. Although the challenges inside this level do change, the lack of a difference in pace is noticeable. It would be much better if there were multiple smaller levels that users would attempt to pass through, or even just extra modes for the game.